Craniella lissi, Sim-Smith & Hickman & Kelly, 2021

Sim-Smith, Carina, Hickman, Cleveland & Kelly, Michelle, 2021, New shallow-water sponges (Porifera) from the Galápagos Islands, Zootaxa 5012 (1), pp. 1-71 : 40

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5012.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:56C6852D-AAE0-4B6B-AB57-919CD62DAEC1

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/D3075148-FFFC-FFDC-FF67-8FCAB0B8CD0B

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Craniella lissi
status

sp. nov.

Craniella lissi View in CoL sp. nov.

( Fig. 18 View FIGURE 18 )

Material examined. Holotype — MCCDRS9409, Las Marielas , Isabela Island, 0.597° S, 91.092° W, 15 m, 2 Dec 2004. GoogleMaps

Type locality. Las Marielas , Isabela Island .

Habitat and distribution. Only known from type locality. Found buried in soft, sandy sediment, only upper half of sponge visible; 15 m.

Description. Small egg-shaped sponge with a root/beard of spicule strands, 17 mm long × 10 mm in diameter. A small oscule, around 1 mm in diameter, is present on the apex of the sponge ( Fig. 18A View FIGURE 18 ). Colour in life unknown, colour in alcohol is beige, texture is compressible, surface is smooth.

Skeleton. Ectosome is well-defined, 350–400 µm deep, and comprises radial brushes of oxeas and protriaenes of two size categories, which protrude beyond the surface of the sponge ( Fig. 18B–C View FIGURE 18 ). Anisoxeas are the most common megasclere. Protrianes II are more common than protriaenes I. Megascleres are sparse in the choanosome, radiating out in tracts. Sigmaspires are sparsely scattered throughout the sponge.

Spicules. Megascleres— Oxeas, straight with gradually tapering tips; 1440 (1062–1721) × 19 (12–26) µm (n = 20) ( Fig. 18C View FIGURE 18 ). Anisoxeas, slightly asymmetrical with one wider end that gradually tapers away; 694 (513–851) × 8 (4–14) µm (n = 20). Protriaenes I, with a narrow, U-shaped cladome that has 2–3 clads; 1766 (1743–1789) µm long (n = 3); cladome width 36 (18–48) µm (n = 8) ( Fig. 18F View FIGURE 18 ). Protriaenes II, very fine with long wispy, curved clads; 485 (202–878) µm long (n = 20); cladome width 43 (16–81) µm (n = 20) ( Fig. 18G View FIGURE 18 ). Anatriaenes, 2521 (1558–5046) µm long (n = 6); cladome width 36 (26–55) µm (n = 20) ( Fig. 18E View FIGURE 18 ). Microscleres— sigmaspires, 12 (8–15) µm long (n = 20) ( Fig. 18H View FIGURE 18 ).

Etymology. Named for co-author Cleveland Hickman’s son-in-law Frederic Liss MD, who accompanied Cleve on numerous dive trips and was supportive in the development of the Galápagos Marine Life Series of field guides.

Remarks. Only one species of Craniella has been described from the Galápagos Islands: C. wolfi, Schuster, 2018 , but that species possesses unusual worm-like sigmaspires. Craniella arb ( De Laubenfels, 1930) from California possesses oxeas that are much longer (2000–3000 µm) than those of C. lissi sp. nov.

Order Agelasida Hartman

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